In a wireless world, in which individuals are in constant communication, mobile technologies of every kind are proliferating, and as a consequence, the generation of electromagnetic waves. Thus, most of the inhabitants of developed countries are in possession of a full set of radiating appliances, such as mobile and wireless telephones (more than 2 billion subscribers currently, and 3 billion forecast by 2010), computers (1 billion computers sold), WiFi modems (1 billion subscribers to internet, who in time will all be WiFi), game consoles, Bluetooth headsets, and so on.
The densification of the electromagnetic sources in our environment raises the very relevant question of the effects on health, and the housing of the mobile telephone is the most significant. In fact this segment of the telecommunication market is experiencing huge growth, and since its appearance on the market, the mobile telephone has been giving rise to the most virulent arguments concerning the exposure of individuals to its powerful electromagnetic radiation, which is continuous and close to the brain.
Up to the present time, the question of these dangers has met with no concrete and definitive response, and the polemic is now at its height. Many international studies carried out on this subject oscillate in their conclusions between “a health catastrophe” and “slight dangers”, but have never defined the risk as zero.
In France, following the publication of the decree of Oct. 8, 2003, mobile telephones must have an index of Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) below 2 W/kg over 10 g of human tissue at the level of the trunk and head. In the United States, the Federal Communications Commission requires that mobile telephones to be sold have a SAR level below 1.6 W/kg taken over a volume of 1 g of human tissue. The most recent mobile telephones that have appeared on the market emit a level of electromagnetic radiation that is still responsible for a specific absorption rate of the order of 1 W/kg. Nonetheless, in the light of a lack of past experience and of uncertainties, we are brought back to the precautionary principle, which is an essential constitutional principle under which it appears necessary to develop individual biological protection devices that can be used to limit exposure of the human body to electromagnetic pollution.
Prior art already describes passive antenna systems providing biological protection from a large frequency spectrum of electromagnetic waves, which come in the form of a range of patches that need only be applied onto the mobile technology equipment, and between the said equipment and the user, in order to protect the user from the electromagnetic waves emitted by the equipment. These systems use the physical principle of 180° phase shifting of the electromagnetic waves.
However, due to the small size of the patches in relation to the size of the mobile equipment, the performance of the devices is necessarily limited. Moreover, these techniques are ill-suited or not suited to the standard protocols for measurement of the SAR.